HUNTINGTON, WV - The University at Buffalo women's basketball team gave the Mid-American Conference's East Division leaders a scare, but in the end the Marshall Thundering Herd pulled away for a convincing 66-46 win over the Bulls this afternoon in front of 1,217 fans in the Cam Henderson Center. The win, Marshall's 12th in a row, improved the Thundering Herd's record to 17-7 overall and 11-2 in the league, while Buffalo fell to 4-20 overall and 2-11 in the MAC.

Brooke Meunier

The Bulls turned the ball over on their first four possessions of the game and Marshall quickly jumped out to a double-digit lead, 18-7, midway through the first half. Buffalo then switched to a zone that quieted the Thundering Herd's offense, and back-to-back three-pointers by junior Brooke Meunier (Saginaw, MI/Heritage) started an 8-0 Buffalo run that got the Bulls within three, 18-15, with 8:08 on the clock. Buffalo later closed the half with a 6-0 run while holding Marshall without a bucket for the final five minutes of the half to cut the Herd's lead to one at the break, 26-25.

Sikeetha Shepard-Hall, who scored half of Marshall's points in the first half, continued her scoring in the second with a three-point play and a three-pointer that keyed an 8-0 Marshall run to open the half. The Herd led by 12, 39-27, at the 16:59 mark and by 11, 49-38, with 11:19 to play, but the Bulls would not go away quietly. An 8-2 UB run, started by a three-pointer by senior Allison Bennett (Springfield, OH/Kenton Ridge) and ended by another three-pointer by Meunier, got the Bulls within five, 51-46, with 6:48 remaining in the game. Marshall, however, pulled away with a 15-0 run to end the game, as Buffalo shot 0-for-5 from the floor and 0-for-2 from the foul line while turning the ball over four times before time expired.

"It was a one-point game at the half and a five-point game with seven minutes to go, so it was within reach," said UB head coach Cheryl Dozier. "We played hard in the first half and we were OK when we executed our offenses. It was when we didn't execute and didn't rebound that we got ourselves in trouble and allowed them to pull away."

Meunier led the Bulls with 16 points, including four three-pointers, and Bennett also reached double figures in scoring with 12 points. Freshman Heather Turner (West Seneca, NY/Mount Mercy Academy) fell shy of a double-double with seven points and a game-high 11 rebounds. The Bulls shot 36.2 percent (17-for-47) from the floor in the game, but just 29.2 percent (7-for-24) in the second half.

Shepard-Hall led all scorers with 23 points, and Kim Griffin added 16 points and five assists. Mary Pat Statler chipped in 11 points, and Modupe Ishola grabbed 11 rebounds. The Herd shot 47.4 percent (27-for-57) from the floor in the game, including 57.1 percent (16-for-28) in the second half. Marshall outrebounded the Bulls by a 35-28 margin.

Buffalo next travels to Miami (OH) for a 7 pm contest on Wednesday, February 23.